hi dude!
first i have to say i like the colors and the mood in your image, you have done this very well!
some crits are: the rocks look a little bit to blurrish and this giant ball thing too. also there is no shadow from the ball thing on the ground and it has a very strong highlight on it, compared to the roof of the castle. maybe a clear foreground object would help to improve the overall depth in this scene and the border between the path to the castle and the rocks need a bit of work too!
these are my crits so far, but a good start though!

JJASSO

12-07-2006, 06:15 PM

hey ! welcome mustard seed, well I like the idea for this secuence but I see some issues that you can take care for future projects
first, be careful with the aereal perspective in some elements I see the background clouds have stronger black values than some of the back mountains that looks wrong
also you have a very blury edge in all you elements , that's not right it makes the whole image look too blury,
the lighting on the ball ( that yes it has a shadow casting the floor ) is different from the main building also the lighting that appears to strike the building is not affecting the other elements also it should be stronger and it should project strong and hard shadows
the camera map is great, add some more elements in the foreground like , branches, bushes or trees

mustardseed

12-07-2006, 07:25 PM

Hi Jamie and Oliver (Jamie Oliver!?),

Thanks very much for your kind words and insightful crits. I agree about everything being too blurry. I added too much edge blurring and light wrapping, and the overkill was a heavily blurred overlay layer I put in, which in hindsight was a bad idea.

Here's an update: I tightened up most of the edges and timed the lightning hits more carefully and added foreground highlights and shadows as well as more attention to the volumetric atmosphere. Also repainted the highlights on the castle roof, the old one didn't bring out its roundness. Lastly, tried some displacement to fake cloud movement, but it's not quite right so I'll have to fix that tomorrow. That's about all I can manage tonight, I'm afraid!

Follow Us On:

The CGSociety

The CGSociety is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists. The CGS supports artists at every level by offering a range of services to connect, inform, educate and promote digital artists worldwide. More about us on TheArtSociety.com